Steve Churchill, post-cranial specialist on the Rising Star Expedition shows off the hominid skull replicas in the Science tent, and explains how the team uses them to help identify the skull pieces emerging from the cave below.

In South Africa, three hominid genera have been discovered to date: Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and Homo.

By having casts of known specimens on hand, whenever a fossil piece puzzles the experts, or whenever they think it might match one of these species, they get out the casts and compare.

With resin or plaster casts in one hand, and actual hominid remains on the table before them (or vice versa) there is one species that is clearly identifiable in the tent.

This is Homo sapiens, “the thinking man,” at work. Curiosity, memory, and communication are all on display. Deep below, our more physical skills are needed. Together, a human community is doing what no one of them could do alone.

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The Rising Star Expedition was rapidly assembled during October 2013 to recover ancient hominid fossils discovered deep in a South African cave.

With more than 1200 identified and cataloged hominid fossil elements already collected, the find could add significantly to our understanding of human evolution.

With the bones hidden 30 meters underground beyond obstacles including a dangerous squeeze only 18 cm wide, it was necessary to assemble a select team of capable researchers with excavation experience and the specialized caving skills and particular size required to reach the inner chamber. The few who met all these requirements happened to all be women.

Directed by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand, and supported by cavers from the Speleological Exploration Club of South Africa, these researchers spent three weeks bringing up hominid fossils that are now being analyzed by a wider team of experts on the surface.

For an unprecedented view into this rare discovery and the work of processing it all, follow along with updates here and on Twitter:@LeeRBerger@JohnHawks

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Read All Posts in Order: Get brought up to speed by starting from the top, and watch the discovery unfold as it happened in the field.

This expedition is supported in part by the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, where Lee Berger is Research Professor in Human Evolution and the Public Understanding of Science.

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